General manager Klaus Allofs remained one of the more diplomatic among Werders travelling party on Tuesday evening. Despite his frustration over referee Eric Poulat his critisism echoed: "That was a clear dive that led to their penalty. I believe the referee was fooled by the strikers trick." The ex French league star commented after the match: "Sure, he blew for a few things that were questionable but then we must play in such a way that the referee is not put in a position to make such decisions." Trainer Thomas Schaaf also tried to iron out the emotions towards the French ref: "We have no need to look for someone else to blame but I did at times wish that the exagerated superiority which he tried to impress upon the game had been more visable in certain situations."
Both Thomas Schaaf and Klaus Allofs were both aware that it would be more difficult for the players to equal their poise when asked about their opinions of the referee's performance. As Torsten Frings said after the game: "I'm really not the type to place the blame on the referee but that tonight was shameless - everyone could see that wasn't a penalty." Even more incensed was Ivan Klasnic who was not only infuriated by the penalty at the beginning but also after his sending off, seeing himself as a victim of the referee: "The ref didn't have his best day today. We should have been awarded a clear penalty when I was hit in the box. The ref then came to me and signaled that I'd dived and was lucky not to be sent off." The Croatian continued: "To be honest I feel he had it in for me!!."
Shortly afterwards it had come to that point when Klasnic saw red for a challenge on Conceicao: "I don't care how it looked on television, I slid in but I swear I never touched the man. He knew I had a yellow card and took the oportunity to throw himself - as far as I'm concerned, a completely unjustified yellow card."
Dissatisfaction with the French referee was fueled by the fact that he refused to allow normal communication: "I've never experienced at international level that the referee dosen't speak English. We're in the Champions League here aren't we?", boiled Klasnic whose comments were confirmed by a number of colleagues.
Johnnie Muldoon